HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Natural Resources Committee - 02/12/2014South Burlington Natural Resources Committee
575 Dorset Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 846-4106
www.sburl.com
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
6:15pm
South Burlington Municipal Offices, 575 Dorset Street
MEETING MINUTES for Regular Bi‐Monthly Meeting
Present: Laurel Williams (NRC/OSC Chair), Patrick Clemins (NRC/OSC Clerk), Russell Agne
(NRC/OSC Member), Jeff Dickson (NRC/OSC Member), Larry Michaels (NRC/OSC Member),
Betty Milizia (NRC/OSC Member), Cathyann LaRose (NRC/OSC Staff Liaison ‐ SB City Planner),
Sarah Dopp (OSC Member ‐ SB Land Trust), Sharon Murray (OSC Consultant ‐ Front Porch
Community Planning & Design), Taryn Dowling (OSC Consultant ‐ T.J. Boyle & Associates), Jim
Palmer (OSC Consultant ‐ T.J. Boyle & Associates), John Jewett
Absent with Regrets: Jennifer Kochman (OSC Member ‐ Rec and Leisure Arts Cmte)
OPEN SPACE COMMITTEE
Meeting called to order at 6:23pm.
1/29/2014 Minutes: The 1/29/2014 minutes will be reviewed at the next meeting.
Review of T.J. Boyle & Associates Maps: Palmer, Downing, and Murray walked the Committee
through 11 draft maps and received feedback and suggestions for the final product.
Palmer asked for clarification as to the goals of the current open space study. Specifically, he
wanted to know whether the Committee was most interested in a natural resource and
recreational area inventory, or a scenic / important view study. The Committee supplied
feedback indicating that tools and processes (incl. inventories) are needed to prioritize the
elements of scenic South Burlington that should be protected and to construct regulations that
protect those priorities.
Scenic View Working Group: The Working Group verified a number of the scenic views from
the list supplied by Dopp. They expressed the need for a tool to systematically rank those views
and determine the most important elements of each view.
Palmer noted that the most popular method for protecting scenic views is to create a scenic
overlay that designates the base viewpoint and direction of the view for each scenic view. He
also noted that while natural components of the view are the most easily noted scenic
elements of a view, often, historical buildings or other elements of the location can be
important as well.
The Working Group agreed to revisit a number of the views with this in mind and to take notes
on how the views might be categorized.
Staff Report: LaRose, Paul Conner, Paul Dreher, and Murray met to talk about private open
space standards in the City Center. They hope to have a draft standard in the next few weeks.
Next Meetings: The next few regular meetings of the Natural Resources Committee / Open
Space Committee will be:
March 19th at 6:15pm – Regular Monthly Meeting
April TBD at 6:15pm – Review of Revised Form‐Based Code Draft from Planning
Commission (Red‐lined draft is scheduled for March 31st)
Wednesday, Apr 2nd at 6:15pm – Murray delivers OSC report draft to Committee
Wednesday, Apr 16th at 6:00pm – Public Comment Meeting, possibly at the Wheeler
House
Wednesday, Apr 23nd at 6:15pm – Finalize OSC deliverables
May Meeting – NRC Planning Meeting (Priorities and Committee Structure)
Meeting adjourned at 8:37pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Patrick Clemins